Developments in the Greek government bond market: August- September 2011
06/10/2011 - Press Releases
On the electronic secondary securities market (HDAT), prices for most Greek government bonds fell and yields rose during the period under examination, while the 30-year bond price remained unchanged. In the rest of the so-called “peripheral” euro area government securities markets, price performance was mixed whereas in countries with the highest sovereign credit rating, government bonds recorded strong gains.
In particular, with regard to Greek government benchmark bonds, the 3- and the 5-year bond prices recorded the highest losses falling respectively to 53.10 and 50.00 at the end of September, from 59.00 and 60.00 at the end of July. In the longer tenors, the 10-year bond price fell to 50.20 at the end of September, from 59.82 at the end of July, while the 30-year bond price remained unchanged at 49.03.
The yield on the 3-year benchmark bond increased by 695 basis points (bps), to 34.09%, at the end of September, the 5-year yield rose by 729 bps, to 29.22% and the 10-year yield rose by 335 bps, to 17.94%. At the same time, the 30-year bond yield remained virtually unchanged at 10.07% at the end of September (10.06% at the end of July). As a result, the yield curve remained inverted while steepening considerably.
In addition, the average monthly spread between the Greek and the German 10-year bond yields rose to 1,591 bps in September from to 1,335 bps in July.
Trading volume on HDAT during the period under examination amounted to EUR 46 million and out of the 46 orders executed, 76% were “sell” orders and 24% “buy” orders.